Thursday, 3 September 2015

Keralite men deported from the UAE also had job offers from IS

Two men from Kerala who posted pro-Islamic State (IS) comments on
social-networking site Facebook have been deported by the United Arab
Emirates, reports said.The two men from Kochi are reportedly part
of a group of 10 Indians who were found by law enforcement in the UAE to have participated in Islamic
State propaganda on social media.

The United Arab Emirates reportedly decided to act against them
because the posts indicated they have been radicalised. Meanwhile, the
two men have been sent back to India but no case has been registered
against them yet.
"The Facebook accounts of these men came under
the scanner of authorities in the UAE, and they were deported in
batches. The two men from Kerala were sent back to India on August 29," a
source in the Intelligence services told The Indian Express.

None of these men were however found to have travelled outside the UAE to join pro-IS organisations in Syria or Iraq.

According to the Times of India, a Muslim youth believed to a native
of Tirur, Malappuram, was detained in the Kozhikode International
airport by the immigration and intelligence bureau after they received
information from the UAE police of his alleged links with IS groups.
The youth, who was employed in Abu Dhabi, was later released by the police, but he is believed to be under police surveillance.

During interrogation, the youth told the police that a group of men
from Kerala were also interrogated by the UAE police for their IS
sympathetic Facebook posts.

The group was interested in jobs offered by a pro-IS
organization in Syria. The organization later contacted the youth and
were offered a job considering their pro-IS postings.

The Times report said, quoting unnamed sources, that more immigrants
from Kerala are under the surveillance of the UAE police for pro-IS
activities and are expected to be deported soon. The police also said
that more people have been deported through Nedumbassery and Kozhikode
International airports and are under the scanner of police and
intelligence agencies.

The Tirur native who was interrogated by the IB official is also
being watched by investigating agencies for his alleged links with
terror outfits. He had been working in UAE for the last two years.